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Not to Be Forgotten
JA director Steven Okazaki gets shot at second
statue for film documenting Japan's forgotten A-bomb victims
By Stewart David Ikeda
 This Sunday, after the red carpet hubbub, many Asian-American Villagers will
join the slew of critics and industry pundits anticipating Ang Lee's march
toward history-making as the first Asian American to take home the coveted award
for best director (aka "Achievement in Directing").
Not to be forgotten, however, is another film by another notable
Asian-American director.
 Steven Okazaki is already an Oscar-winner for his 1990 documentary Days of Waiting, about Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian
artist interned with Japanese Americans in 1942.
This year, he received his third nomination (following
nomination for Unfinished Business in
1985) for “Best Short Documentary” with The Mushroom Club, a contemporary look
at the few remaining hibakusha, or Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb.
In the release for The Mushroom Club by Farallon Films, Okazaki explains the
impetus for the film emerged over his numerous visits to Hiroshima:
He decided to make his film in 1995 when the fiftieth anniversary of the
bombing came and went with minimal media coverage.
“In Hiroshima, there was a
lot of anticipation around the fiftieth anniversary. People thought that the
Hiroshima story would finally be heard around the world. Then it came and
nothing happened. The American news shows mumbled something about ‘today is the
fiftieth anniversary’ and that was it. The people in Hiroshima, the peace
movement in Japan, went kind of numb after that and still hasn’t recovered,”
said Okazaki. “The Enola Gay, the airplane that dropped the bomb is on exhibit
in the new Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and there is no mention of
radiation or of the people dying, because it is still too controversial to admit
to the extraordinary human suffering caused by one bomb. It’s a lesson in how
history gets written.”
 Although limited distribution traditionally makes the “Best Short
Documentary” one of those Oscar Night lulls
that send many off to the fridge or out for a smoke,
efforts of such dedicated organizations as Apollo
Cinema provide opportunities for film buffs all over America to catch
the nominees right up until the Awards and afterward.
The Mushroom Club will be screened in a
special program before Oscar night at the Smithsonian in Washington DC,
and as part of an Apollo Cinema touring program
featuring all the nominated shorts, showing February and March at these and other venues nationwide:
For more information about The Mushroom Club
and additional screenings, visit the
calendar section of Farallon Films.
Other Readings of Interest
Images by Steven Okazaki are frames from the film
The Mushroom Club, used here
courtesy of Farallon Films.
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Stewart David Ikeda
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Stewart
David Ikeda is author of the book,
What the Scarecrow Said (HarperCollins-Regan Books), about
the Japanese-American immigration, internment and relocation
experience, and has taught writing and
Asian-American Studies at the Universities of Wisconsin and
Michigan, and at Boston College.
Former Director of Online Content
and Editor-in-Chief at IMDiversity.com, he is a new media planning
and diversity consultant, and currently serves as Editor of the
Asian-American Village Online and VP of Marketing and Community
Outreach for IMDiversity, Inc.
IMDiversity.com is committed to presenting diverse points of view.
However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of
the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or
employees at IMD.
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